The China Mail - Francis's funeral to be grand farewell to 'pope of the poor'

The Argentine pontiff, who died on Monday aged 88, sought to create a more open-minded Church during his 12-year papacy, and many emotional tributes have been made -- with 250,000 people paying respects at his coffin in St Peter's Basilica.

US President Donald Trump is among more than 50 heads of state due to attend the mass in St Peter's Square at the Vatican, set to start at 10:00 am (0800 GMT).

Italian and Vatican authorities have mounted a major security operation for the event, expected to draw up to 200,000 people.

A no-fly zone is in place, fighter jets are on standby and snipers will be positioned on roofs surrounding the tiny city state.

During the three days of his coffin lying-in-state, many people queued for hours to catch a brief glimpse of a man known for his human touch, jokes and defence of the vulnerable.

"He helped a lot of people, he noticed a lot of people that weren't noticeable before," Sofiia Popkova, a 19-year-old from Kyrgyzstan, told AFP after a "breathtaking" experience seeing Francis's body.

The funeral sets off the first of nine days of official Vatican mourning for Francis, who took over following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in 2013.

After the mourning, cardinals will gather for the conclave to elect a new pope to lead the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.

- Diplomatic gathering -

Many of Francis's reforms angered traditionalists, while his criticism of injustices, from the treatment of migrants to the damage wrought by global warming, riled many world leaders.

Yet the former archbishop of Buenos Aires's compassion and charisma earned him global affection and respect.

Monica Penagos, a 61-year-old from Colombia, said she "cried a lot" when Francis died.

"He was my beautiful old man, he was our pope, the pope of migrants."

Trump's administration drew the pontiff's ire for its mass deportation of migrants, but the president arrived late Friday with his wife Melania to pay tribute to "a good man" who "loved the world".

Making the first foreign trip of his second term, Trump will face dozens of foreign leaders keen to bend his ear over a trade war he unleashed, among other subjects.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had hoped for a meeting with Trump after the funeral, but he said Friday he may miss the event due to important meetings following a deadly Russian strike on Kyiv.

Trump's predecessor Joe Biden is also attending the funeral, as are presidents Javier Milei of Argentina, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, France's Emmanuel Macron and Lebanon's Joseph Aoun.

More than a dozen royals including Britain's Prince William will also be present.

Israel -- angered by Francis's criticism of its conduct in Gaza -- is sending just its Holy See ambassador. China, which does not have formal relations with the Vatican, is not sending any representative at all.

- Simple tomb -

Francis, elected in 2013, died of a stroke and heart failure less than a month after he left hospital where he had battled pneumonia for five weeks.

He loved nothing more than being among his flock, taking selfies with the faithful and kissing babies, and made it his mission to visit the peripheries, rather than mainstream centres of Catholicism.

His last public act, the day before his death, was an Easter Sunday blessing of the entire world, ending his papacy as he had begun -- with an appeal to protect the "vulnerable, the marginalised, and migrants".

The Jesuit chose to be named after Saint Francis of Assisi, saying he wanted "a poor church for the poor", and eschewed fine robes and the papal palace.

Instead the Church's 266th pope lived at a Vatican guesthouse and chose to be interred in his favourite Rome church, Santa Maria Maggiore -- the first pontiff to be buried outside the Vatican walls in more than a century.

Outspoken and stubborn, Francis also remained a humble pope to the last.

His send-off will be a grand affair, featuring some 224 cardinals and 750 bishops and priests alongside world dignatories.

But he chose to be put inside a single wooden coffin -- his predecessors had three, one inside the other -- and be laid in a simple marble tomb.

After the funeral, the coffin will be taken to Santa Maria Maggiore via the Fori Imperiali -- where Rome's ancient temples lie -- and the Colosseum.

A group of "poor and needy" will greet the hearse on its arrival, the Vatican said.

- Refusal to judge -

Francis's admirers credit him with transforming perceptions of the Church and helping revive the faith following decades of clerical sex abuse scandals.

But he also stuck with some centuries-old dogma, notably holding firm on the Church's opposition to abortion.

The first trip of Francis's 12-year papacy was to Lampedusa, an Italian island that became a haven for asylum seekers, and he visited Greece's Lesbos island, flying 12 refugees home with him.

Some of those refugees will be at his funeral.

K.Lam--ThChM